Inside Health

CITY ROOM; Deals Avert Walkouts By Nurses At 2 Centers

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

Published: December 28, 2011

9:38 p.m. | Updated A nursing strike has been averted at two of Manhattan's busiest hospital centers, as union and hospital negotiators reached tentative deals over pay and benefits, officials involved in the talks said Tuesday.

The 1,300 nurses at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center had given notice they would strike on Jan. 3 but were able to resolve disagreements over health benefits. Officials at Mount Sinai Medical Center said Tuesday that they, too, had reached a tentative settlement with the nurses' union, though details of the deal were not available.

Another large hospital, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, remained mired in contract talks.

Stanley Brezenoff, chief executive of Continuum Health Partners, the parent company of St. Luke's-Roosevelt, said in a memorandum to his staff Tuesday morning that contingency plans for a strike, which included bringing in replacement nurses, had been canceled.

''This settlement ensures that we will be able to continue to provide the highest-quality medical care to the patients,'' Mr. Brezenoff said.

In one hard-fought provision, the settlement would require the nurses at St. Luke's-Roosevelt to begin sharing the cost of their health insurance premiums, which until now had been paid by the company.

But the union claimed a victory by persuading management to contribute to a brand-name drug plan for nurses and their family members with devastating illnesses, like cancer.

Betty Ann Lynch, a nurse and a member of the negotiating committee for the union, the New York State Nurses Association, said shaping the drug benefit for sick nurses had been a priority.

''In the real world, people pay premiums - O.K., we'll live with that,'' Ms. Lynch said Tuesday. ''But the drugs can wipe you out. We're nurses, and we care about our colleagues. We took a strike vote because of the other nurses who were sick.''

Health benefits have been a major issue for all the hospitals. Continuum officials said other workers within the hospitals, including doctors, contributed to their premiums in some form or another.

Health plans in which employees do not contribute to their premiums have become increasingly rare. Nationally, only 6 percent of workers with family health coverage sponsored by their employers make no contribution to their premiums, and 16 percent of workers with individual coverage make no contribution, according to a 2011 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The nurses are scheduled to vote on the tentative four-year contract on Jan. 4 and 5. The deal would require the nurses at St. Luke's-Roosevelt to contribute to their premiums in amounts ranging from $25 a month in pretax payments for single coverage to $100 a month for a family of four or more. At the end of 2013 and 2014, every full-time nurse would get a $600 bonus, which could be used to cover at least some of the premium.

The bonuses mean that the hospital company can claim to have won the argument over premiums in principle, while the nurses have succeeded in mitigating their losses.

Continuum agreed to give up to $40,000 a year total to a fund that would help pay for brand-name drugs for devastating illnesses. Union officials said about 4 percent of the nurses fell into that category. Those nurses would be eligible for help after they had spent $1,500 a year out of their own pockets. Other nurses would continue to use generic drugs, which would be free. Until now, all prescription drugs were free.

Wage increases would total 8 percent over the next three years, plus a retroactive payment of $1,500 for the past year, in which the nurses have been working without a contract.

St. Luke's-Roosevelt comprises St. Luke's Hospital, at 114th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, which serves Morningside Heights and the Upper West Side, and Roosevelt Hospital, at 58th Street and 10th Avenue, serving much of the West Side.

Talks at Montefiore are stalled over staffing levels, officials said. Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital ratified their contract this month.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.